Exposure
by LightningTidus
Summary: "I used to be just a normal kid who had semi-ordinary dreams. But apparently fate had something else in mind. I feel like I was warned about this though. I kinda wish this would just all go back to normal. No more stress or worry whats about to come, but I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. I just hope things won't get worse."
1. Chapter 1 No One is Safe Forever

**Edited: Okay it's finally fixed… I think. I hope this let reading to be easier. Please PM any complaints, as long as it's beneficial to improve my writing.**

 **Quoted** _ **italics**_ **are for pokespeak and dreamspeak and for auraspeak.**

 **Unlike before, inner thoughts are no longer in italics.**

* * *

I feel strange. I feel weightless. I feel cold. All I see is nothing. Everything around me is black. Not even black, just a void of nothingness and obscurity, like having your eyes closed. I begin to feel myself panic, am I in space or something, where am I?

But I relax, " _Clearly this is a dream, I would be dead if I'm in space, duh! How dumb can I get…"_

I'm stuck floating and motionless, amidst the silence and dark of this nightmare-like void.

" _When.."_ I hear a disembodied voice suddenly call out to me.

" _Who said that!"_ I yell out into the darkness, hoping to get a response from whatever nightmare demon is terrorizing me.

" _When will you learn.."_ The voice sounding as if it is from all directions, speaks to me again. I search around, and frantically rotate my head to look for the speaker. But me being suspended in a strange void doesn't allow me to find the antagonizer.

" _Learn what!"_ I call out for an answer, pointlessly searching for someone.

" _That no one is safe forever…"_ The dark dissipates as if it was mere smoke and reveals a gray laboratory with concrete walls. I look around and see desks crammed with notes, vials, and various unidentifiable equipment. Different machines lining up against the walls, all having some function that can't be discerned. Expect for the wall behind me that just as a door. Suddenly, a strong force slams me into the empty wall behind me and metal clamps form from it and detain me on my wrists, ankles, and waist, keeping me fastened onto the wall. Dark clouds form across from me creating a slight humanoid figure.

" _Let this be a warning to you, human. You will be captured for experiments by certain people. You can't change that. The rest after that is clouded in mystery. Not even Celebi herself knows what will happen."_ Without a doubt, I know who this is, the way he mentions Celebi and the fact that we are even in a nightmare, proves that this has to be Darkrai himself. The embodiment of torture and nightmares straight from fables and fairy tales, warning me of some foreboding and unknown enemy. I begin to feel sick in my stomach only imagining what else Darkrai will have in store for me.

" _What do you mean?"_ The question being only a fraction of what I want to say to him.

" _I meant what I said. Although we barely know what is going to happen, we thought it would at least be fair to warn you about your inevitable future. You will get attacked by a new group of people whose name is also crowded in mystery. The captors will conduct experiments on you that we also cannot find out about. The only thing we know after that is that a threat of some kind will possibly endanger your human society. You knowing seemed like the best possible outcome, to Celebi to help your people."_ I take a minute to process what just happen. Me? Attacked? Experiments?! Threat?! I feel myself breathing rapidly and struggle against the bindings. There is no way, me, some random kid, would get greeted by Darkrai and be warned of a massive threat. This must be all some illusion. But what if it is not? What if it's all true? Even if it is true, what can I even do?

" _If it is some massive threat, why can't you or the other legendaries do anything about it?"_

" _It is because we are not allowed to interfere with human problems. Humans must work out their own problems. Simple as that."_

" _Why is that?"_

" _We do not care for humans, except for few of us. Arceus wants humans to solve their own human affairs, and I advocate his decision. This warning is as much help Arceus, or I am willing to allow."_ I stopped saying my follow up sentence knowing it would be unwise to question any legendary's decisions.

Darkrai begins speaking again, _"My time is up here, we have no more to discuss."_ Then Darkrai raises his left arm and fires a black spherical mass in my direction. Intense pain is all I feel upon its contact and everything fades away.

-line break-

I jolt up from my bed, immediately hitting my head on the bottom of the top bunk which creates a loud sound and pain on the top of my head. I wince and hold my head as the slight bump on my scalp throbs.

I hear my brother stir from the top bunk, "Whoa Zack, are you okay?" Alex says groggily.

"Yeah, it was just a bad dream." I try to recall what I dreamt but I only remembered a few snippets of being stuck on a wall and… Darkrai? Must have been bad if he was there. "Ow.." I mutter as the throbbing continues.

"Hit yourself against the bed again, huh?" Alex snickered.

"Yeah Yeah, just go to bed," I say hoping to end Alex mocking my clumsiness. I check the alarm clock that's on my nightstand on the side of the bed. 8:30 am! Aw cmon I wanted a little more sleep than that! But whatever, I'm already up and it's no use to go back to sleep. I reach for my black glasses and put them on.

I get up from the bed and I already hear Alex snoring, already out cold. I look across from our bed to see Dante, my charmander, sleeping in his own bed. I tiptoe across the room to the door, careful not to wake them. I open the door to see Koda, my mother's female lucario. We both jump in fright from unexpectedly seeing each other.

" _Oh my goodness Zack, you startled me!"_ She said through her aura. " _What are you doing up this hour?"_

"I just woke up from a dream and I can't go back to sleep, so I was going to eat breakfast. What are you doing up?"

" _I sense fear, was that you?"_ she said worryingly.

"Yeah, it was some nightmare, but I forgot it already," I say, trying to still recall that dream.

" _Don't worry, your brain tries to forget negative things so it's normal if you forgot,"_ she begins to smile gently, " _Well since you are up, do you want me to make you anything?"_

"Aw thanks, yes that would be good. Can you ma-"

" _Two Kalos toast coming right up!"_

"Am I that predictable?"

" _Well when you ask for the same thing multiple times for 10 years, yes,"_ she says while giggling.

"Agh, foiled again…" Koda chuckles more after picking up on my sarcasm. Nothing like some laughs to start a day.

-line break-

I watch Koda cook from the table. I see her create the egg mix and add some cinnamon and pecha puree into the mix. She puts the mix onto bread and puts to bread on the stove. The sweet scent of the pecha and cinnamon wafts throughout the room as if a scented candle has been lit. The sweet aroma creates a calm atmosphere and begins to relax me even more than I should be for a summer's morning.

Koda sensing my reaction turns to me with a smile, " _And that's not all I'm gonna do. Since it's your mother's birthday, I'm going to make her some Custap Pudding! And of course for everyone else."_

"Aw thank you Koda, that's really sweet of you." Koda chuckles again catching my pun. And as she does this, she puts the newly made pieces of toast on two separate plates. Before she brings the food to the table, I hear someone stumbling upstairs. And it wasn't long before I see Dante dashing down the stairs saying something in his pokespeak.

" _Of course you can eat these as well! I wouldn't stop you from eating your favorite human food! Here have the other one I made,"_ Koda says in a caring voice to Dante. Dante grins in delight as he jumped into the seat next to me.

"Woah! Just a minute ago you were sleeping!" I say as I laugh slightly at the excited charmander's enthusiasm.

"Cha Charmander Char!" He says in pokespeak. Dante probably meant to say to me something about being wakened by the food's aroma. I hope so at least.

"It does smell good doesn't it. Hey it's gonna smell better, Koda is making Custap Pudding!" I say as I begin to eat a piece of the toast.

"Cha! Char Mander?" Guessing again, Dante probably meant, 'Yes! But what's the occasion?'

"It's mom's birthday! Don't you remember?"

"Cha Charmander," Dante says with a sheepish smile, probably meaning he forgot. Dante looks at the food Koda made and immediately digging in, making it impossible to talk to him while he's enjoying himself like that.

" _How did you manage to keep a conversation with Dante?"_ Koda inquiries at this newfound 'ability' .

"Well let's call the last six years of my life practicing to understand a charmander's language." I say with slight sarcasm.

" _So in other words, half is context clues, half is guessing?"_ Koda says recognizing it.

"Yep!" Koda laughs to herself, amused at what I said again.

-line break-

I carefully go up the stairs, making sure the tray I am holding won't fall, with Dante and Koda in tow. We sneak through the hallway to make sure no one hears us. I look left and peek through an open door. Mom is stirring in her bed and reaching for her glasses on the nightstand, the perfect moment.

We bust open the door and we all yell, "SURPRISE HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Except for Dante saying it the only way he can. Mom is shocked from the startling entrance but quickly puts on a smile knowing what is happening.

"Thank you sweeties!" she says, "I almost forgot myself!" We all laugh to ourselves at her statement. "What's this now?"

"Koda made you your favorite, Custap Pudding!" I respond. Mom looks at Koda with happy tears forming in her eyes.

"Thank you for this, I don't know what to say."

" _Anything for you Rose."_ Koda replies.

"Now, dig in!" I say to mom as I smile, "I'm gonna bring you your present from me, Alex and Dante." I run into my room from across the hall and find Alex still sleeping peacefully in his bed. You think us shout a birthday would wake him up. I climb up the bunk's ladder and poke him in the side.

"Alex! Alex wake up!"

"What is it?" He mumbled groggily.

"It's mom's birthday, remember." Alex gets up from his bed and I drop down from the ladder to let him dismount.

"Is she up?" He asks as he climbs down.

"Yes, where is the present for her?"

"I'll get it." Alex walks to his dresser, opens the bottom compartment and takes out a long, flat case. We both nod to each other to verify that we were sure that this was a good present for her. We walk into her room and she looks at us inquisitively.

"Sweeties what is that?" She asks.

I grin, "Just open it and see." Alex hands me the case and I give it to her. She looks at it and opens it.

-line break-

 _Six years ago, Dad gave her a silver necklace with a thin chain and a small pendant holding an aqua colored teardrop shaped gem the day before he died from a plane crash. The plane was taking him to Sinnoh for his archeologist job in Snowpoint City's Temple. The necklace was supposed to be a parting gift for his year long trip out of Kanto. But it was then the last thing he gave her. She cherished the necklace after he died to preserve his last gift. But while we were visiting a friend in Saffron City two years later, a thief surprised us, grabbed her necklace and tore it off of her neck causing the chain to shatter. Although Koda did manage to pin him down onto the ground immediately, the necklace was shattered except for the gem. Mom mourned over the gift and kept it safe in a case._

 _Until a few months ago Dante, Alex, and I all found a jewelry store that was coincidentally selling a replica of the silver necklace minus the gem. We all bought the necklace, took the gem from mom's case, and attached the gem into it. We were sure it will make a perfect gift for her._

-line break-

She became speechless at the sight of the long lost gift and begins to cry a little more from her eyes. She picked it up in awe that it was completely fixed. She turns towards us, "H-How did you fix it? They said that the damage couldn't be undone," She asks with a shaky voice.

"Well, we were walking around and found a duplicate chain. We put the gem onto that. We hope you like it," Alex says.

"Like it? I love it. It's just... that this means so much. Thank you everyone," She gets up and manages to hug all four us.

" _We know it's been hard for you Rose, so just take it easy and please relax."_ Mom smiles at Koda.

"Please don't worry about me, I still want you guys to have fun and not do everything for me."

" _Are you sure? We can bring the things you want here for you."_ Mom shakes her head.

"No, No, You don't have to do that. I just don't want to go to work! I have the day of since it's my birthday," She laughs slightly at her comment. Koda giggles as well.

" _Well actually, Rose, do you want to go into town? We haven't done a thing like that in forever!"_

"Of course! Will the kids be fine? _"_

"Cmon Mom, it's okay, I'm 16 and Alex is 17. We can handle ourselves! If 10 year olds can survive the wilderness out on adventures, then we can survive one day in a house," I continue, "It will be perilous and dangerous, but through the skin of our teeth, we might just make it." I say sarcastically.

"Okay my brave defender, just don't blow anything up," She turns to Koda, "Just let me get ready first," She says, still smiling.

I turn to Alex and Dante, "Do you guys wanna train since they're leaving?" I say enthusiastically. It's been forever since Dante trained, and he and I both want him to evolve.

"Sure just let me grab Hydro from his ball real quick. And let's both of course put on our clothes, I don't want to battle in our pajamas."

-line break-

Me and Alex walk into the open backyard. The trees far away to avoid fires, but also are giving the perfect view of the morning sun, with the it peeking from the top of Viridian Forest. The sun warming me especially through my hoodie. I love rural Viridian. Alex goes across from me to the other side of the field.

"Go Hydro!" Alex summons his Squirtle that he got from Professor Oak.

"You know what to do Dante! He's of course a Water Type so we just have to pull off that move." I wink at Dante and he winks back. We're gonna surprise Alex so bad! I begin getting excited a laugh a little.

"Go first Zack! I dare ya!" Alex proclaims.

"Sure, Dante Ember!"

"Hydro Water Gun!" As predicted he used that move, but it might work out in my favor instead. Both moves collide and create steam slightly blocking the view. But sadly it's not enough to use as cover as I hoped it to.

"Dante, let's not waste anytime! Smoke Strike!"

"Zack, what are ya doing? That's not a move!" Zack looks at me curiously as I grin.

"It is for us!" As I say this, Dante runs in circles around Hydro while emitting smoke from his mouth.

"Don't worry Hydro it's just a Smokescreen, use Withdraw and spin while using Water Gun to blast the smoke away!" Dang it all, looks like Alex knows some tricks as well. Doesn't matter, I still got a contingency plan if this fails.

"Continue with Smoke Strike, I got a plan!" I yell to Dante. As I say this, Hydro's move goes into effect. Even though it is barely splitting the fog, it is giving Dante trouble dodging it through the smoke. But following my orders, Dante follows up with part two of Smoke Strike. He runs to the other side of the arena while still in the fog and barely dodges the Water Gun. Then he charges at Hydro once he stopped his barrage of water from getting too tired. Dante's claw begins to glow slightly white and he uses Scratch against Hydro, but then quickly runs back into the fog. Then he repeats this action multiple times while getting faster every time. Alex looks at the unrelentless attacks and stutters to commands again, still taken aback from the feat Dante is pulling.

"Hydro, do the Water Spin attack again!" But as Hydro began his attack, Dante rushes at him one last time and jumps onto Hydro's shell and launches himself into the air from the shell. Apparently Dante realized my plan without me saying it.

"DO IT NOW!" I call out loudly to command Dante in using his special move. Dante's claw begins to grow longer and darker as well as begin to emit and more foreboding, dark aura.

"SHADOW CLAW!" Alex taken aback to what I just said, he forgot to say another command. The Shadow Claw hit Hydro on impact, creating a force that blasts away the remnants of the Smokescreen. The smoke dissipates completely, revealing Hydro knocked out and Dante standing proudly.

"WHAT THE HECK!" Alex exclaims, "Since when did Dante know Shadow Claw? And what the heck was Smoke Strike?!"

"Well the Shadow Claw is something special he had since I got him, I just kept it a secret, but today I found no reason to keep it a secret still," I say, "And the Smoke Strike is a little combo move me and Dante came up with in our own training."

"Well I guess me and Hydro will train like that then," Alex says with a smirk. He walks up to the fallen squirtle and takes out a potion from his pocket. He probably knew that someone was going to faint in our battle. He sprays the medicine at Hydro and Hydro opens his eyes again, slightly embarrassed at his failure.

"Hey don't sweat it Hydro, it's just training. I don't care that you lost." Alex says kneeling down to Hydro.

"Squirtle!" Hydro replies. I think that was a thanks?

"So both of you," I get Hydro's and Alex's attention, "I'm gonna help you learn some combos." Both Alex and Hydro get on their feet pumped up.

"READY!" Alex exclaims.

"Well to be honest, technically you guys already learned one. The combination move of the spinning Withdraw and Water Gun pretty much counts. Just give that a name Hydro would understand to command it easier. Also giving it a name might confuse your opponents the first time."

"Really that's it? Nothing special?"

"Well doing these does tire the pokemon out so take that into consideration. But for coming up with more? Just be creative with what you have." Alex looks at Hydro unsure for a bit but then gets pumped up again.

"Alright! I'll beat you next time then!" I grin.

"I hope so, otherwise Dante is gonna have to be the strongest." This comment only excites Alex even more. He looks to Hydro.

"Let's go training!" And which Hydro only responds with his own response, "Zack can you leave the backyard? I wanna keep these moves a secret until we battle!"

"Of course!" To which Alex only with a nods before talking with Hydro to discuss moves. As me and Dante walk into the house and close the door, Dante begins to giggle slightly and shake his head side to side.

"What? Alex needed motivation and I gave it to him. That type of training will ensure their chances to go to the championship."

"Char Char Mander?" That sounds like a question, I take a shoot in the dark.

"Don't worry, we'll try the championship too, I hope." Dante smiles a little, satisfied by my answer. Maybe I am beginning to understand him.

-line break-

I walk into my and Alex's room and drop into the bean bag chair next to the small T.V. Dante walks up to me with a questioning look on his face. Probably thinking that I'm upset at something.

"It's nothing Dante, I'm just bored a little that's all."

Dante perks up after I say this and runs to the video game system and points to it with a smile on his face.

"Char?" He proposes.

"Ya wanna play on the Pokestation?" Dante answers with an enthusiastic nod.

"What game?" Dante shuffles through the plethora of PS games we have and picks one out. He shows it to me revealing JoJo's All Star Battle.

"Woah ho HO! Someone's eager to lose!" I smile as I say this, "You know it's one of my favorites!"

"Mander Char Cha Der!" He challenges.

"I'm guessing you have been practicing, that confidence better be backed up with some skill!

-line break-

I can't believe it's been 9 hours. We have been trying to get at least 2 matches above the other but we it seems that we have been rotating on who wins. First it's been me, then Dante, then me, then him, then me, then him, the pattern has continued for hours. As I was being distracted by me contemplating on how long this can last, Dante wins the last match and finally claims the overall victory. He lets out an exasperated sigh and falls down backwards on to the floor, mentally tired from all of this. I collapse even more into the bean cushion, contempt with our long tornament.

"Let's accept that we are both too good for this world," Dante nods, "Or should I say, ZA WORLDO!" Dante groans at the horrible pun I just made, and I giggle to it as well, knowing it was bad.

"Let's get something to eat shall we?"

-line break-

We both walk into the dining room and see that lunch had started already. Hydro and Alex were almost done eating their blackened basculin that Koda left for us.

"Jeez Zack," Alex says through a spoonful of fish, "We almost thought you guys were gonna stay up there forever!"

"Well you know us, too good for our own health!" My comment makes Dante laugh little.

"Well do you want some, i'll warm up more of the leftovers?"

"Of course we do!" I microwave some and grab two plates, "Do you want some basculin or your pokefood?" Dante ponders his options for a few seconds and responds with an indecisive char.

"A little bit of both?" To which Dante nods. I split a piece of fish in half and put it on a paper late for Dante and I grab his bowl to pour some of his food into. I put his dinner on his spot on the table and he begins to chow down on the pokemon food. Is the Pokemon food really that good? I put my portion of fish on a plate and glance at Dante's bagged pokefood. Before I go on the table I snatch one piece of the food and hide it in my palm.

"Welp, since me and Hydro are done eating I guess we'll train over at the park," Alex says as they both get up from their seats, "let's go practice some combos and freak some trainers out!" He says to Hydro. And they both eagerly run out of the house. When I knew they were out of sight I look at Dante, who is more focused on his food than anything else. My eyes shift back to the piece of kibble in my palm. It's been said that many trainers tried pokemon food and it's not like it's harmful. I pop the morsel into my mouth and it surprises me that it actually tastes pretty decent. Somewhat like berries but a mix of savoriness in it, or something like that. Not bad, but not entirely good. Like some strange chip. Maybe it tastes better to Pokemon. Ah whatever it's not important. But yet I'm kinda craving that taste. What is this some kinda addictive? Well whatever it is I'm hooked. I finish my fish and bring my now empty dish to the sink and turn on the water. I look over to the right of the sink and see the open bag of Pokemon food. It won't hurt to take some more. I grab a couple and start eating them. The more I taste it, the better it tastes. The flavor becomes more prominent the more I chew, probably because I'm looking for more of the flavor. After I pop my last one I had in my hand I hear a questioning 'char' coming from behind me. I've been caught. I turn around sheepishly and look at Dante who looks like he's about to burst out laughing.

"Well I was just curious and it turns out I see why you like it," I quickly say to defend myself. Dante raises an eyebrow and cracks a bigger smile. I chuckle a little, "Don't worry I won't eat anymore of those." Maybe at least.

"Hey Dante are you done eating?" He responds with a curt nod when I look over to him.

Do you know what day it is?" Dante tilts his head slightly to the side before thinking then he remembers and groans a little. I smile.

"That's right, it's Training Day!" Every couple of days me and Dante train and try to perfect his moves. It started out him wanting to grow stronger but now he kinda is reluctant to do it due to my too intense training. But he still wants to do the intense training no matter what, even when I ask him if he wants me to make the training less difficult, he refuses it to be. Probably because he has some self improvement goal.

"I know you want to relax more, but hey you want it to be difficult." Dante responds with a slow nod as he sighs as if saying, "I know, I know." And he goes out into the backyard and I follow behind.

"Now, I want to hold back a little on training," I say, "I know you don't want me to, but I'm thinking instead of coming up with more combos or tactics, let's just improve the moves you have now." Satisfied, Dante nods in agreement.

"Now how about we try improving Dragon Rage's capabilities. But it's not like we can improve the damage." I pull out my pokedex that I got six years ago from Oak, "I'm going to monitor your range with this since it can measure accuracy and record and analyze attacks. Now aim in front of you." Dante takes a deep breath until blue flames begin to spew out on the corners of his mouth. Then he releases the blue torrent of flame across the backyard. The screen of the pokedex lights up as it scans the attack.

' **Dragon Rage, Dragon Rage always inflicts exactly 40 HP damage if it hits. It has no secondary effects and does not take weaknesses or resistances into account; however, it does not ignore type immunity. Type Dragon, Special Move, affected by Protect and King's Rock, not affected by Snatch or magic coat. This move covered around 5 meters'** This doesn't give that much information for improvement. I guess I have to improvise this training again.

"Okay Dante what do you want to do, one nod for accuracy, two for range, three for spread, or four for technique." Dante responds with two nods, "Okay let's begin then."

-line break-

An exhausted charmander treks into our house from the darkness outside and drops down onto the carpet, drained of energy from using Dragon Rage too many times.

"Hey, you want difficult don't you?" I ask sarcastically which receives a meek wave of the paw from Dante, as if saying, "Yeah Yeah.. I know."

"Don't worry I'm gonna make you a snack for your improvement! You did improve the range and from 5 to 8 meters so that deserves an award no matter what time it is!" Dante perks up immediately excited for what I'm making, "Do you want…a citrus Pokepuff!" Dante starts jumping up and down, but then winces in pain as his soreness kicks in.

"Whoa no need to hurt yourself." After a couple minutes of creating a dozen puffs, I quickly frost the treat and hand it over to the sore yet very eager charmander.

"Char!" Dante says in thanks as he begins to take bites out of it. Are these good as well? They look like cupcakes and they do supposedly have flavor, I think. Or can Pokemon only taste it? I reach for one of the puffs I made and frost it like how I did with Dante's. As the Kalosians say, bon appetit? I take a bite out of it and also find that, it's not bad at all! Like an airy cupcake but with a slight citrus taste to it. I take another bite. Oh man, I might end up making these for myself now. After I stuff my face with the last piece of the puff, I frost the rest of the puffs and put them in a container.

"Hey do you want these in the fridge or-," I turn around to see Dante with that questioning look again likely wondering why I'm starting to enjoy Pokemon food now.

"Can I explain myself?"

"Mander?" I'll take that as a yes.

"Well I was just wondering, hey these look like cupcakes are they good? And they are! So I mean it's not like they're bad for humans anyway so-" Dante cuts me off with a wave of his paw and smiles.

"Char Char!"

"Uh wants that mean?" Dante pouts a little at my misunderstanding but then starts doing hand gestures. First he points to the bag of Pokemon food, then puffs, then me and begins eating his puff.

"Me eating the food.." I say has I try to follow what he's saying. He then points to himself and then shrugs, "Is okay with you?" He nods, "Thank you but uh.. I'll make sure to not make this a normal thing okay." Dante cracks a smile before going back to finishing his puff. At least I know why those are as delicious as Dante deems them to be.

* * *

 **Now I know this chapter was short and slow and under my word limit but it is the first chapter. Things must be slow! My updates will be seldom but they will get updated!**

 **Also a good thing to note is that fire on pokemon and stuff like that, like the fire on a charmander's tail, won't actually set anything on fire if the pokemon doesn't want to and has control over it.**

 **For those of you who don't know what Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is an amazing anime that people should watch, yes gets a little crazy but it's still good nevertheless.**

 **Imagine the pokefood/kibble like the food in the anime.**

 **Zack and his family all respect and recognize Pokemon to be creatures with as much intelligence as a human. So of course they'll want them to eat with them. They are all family in each other's eyes. But is in his poke ball because he likes it in there.**


	2. Chapter 2 You Can't Truly Know

**After edit: Okay now all Exposure chapters should follow the same format. Auraspeak is in italics as well as dreamspeak and such. Thoughts are the text due to the story being in Zack's perspective.**

* * *

I shoot up awake immediately when I hear the deafening sound of the the alarm.

"Stupid...thing," I grumble as I put it on snooze. Two minutes pass and I feel something poking my face. Is Alex trying to wake me up again? I swat it out of the way and groggily mutter a no. It begins to poke me again anyway.

"Char!" Oh it's Dante. I don't want to even try to think of what he's saying.

"No Dante… I'm too tired to play," I manage to say through my half-sleep. I hope he leaves me alone now, I'm too comfortable. I hear a sharp sigh and footsteps. He might have left. I begin to snuggle deeper into the bed and try to get as relaxed as I can. It's summer, let me sleep in! I feel a scaled hand flick my forehead.

"Dante what the heck?" I say as I open my eyes to see an annoyed charmander hold a picture profile of someone. He brings it closer to my face.

"CHAR CHAR!" He scolded. What the heck is he on about. I let my eyes adjust to the sudden light and take a closer look at the picture. Professor Oak? Why is Dante showing me this?

"Oh...I forgot," I utter. Its Monday today meaning I have to go to work at Oak's Viridian Lab. "Thanks Dante for reminding me, but don't worry, I got a hour left to go." Dante leaves to go downstairs most likely to go eat breakfast and I do a quick check up on myself in the mirror. I comb and pat down my bed head into my usual short hairstyle for my dark brown hair. My hazel eyes staring back at me while I fix myself. Ugh I forgot to take a shower last night might as well do it now. I grab my towel off the towel hook on the back of my bedroom door and walk to the bathroom. As I strip down and enter and turn on the shower, I mentally plan out my day. Starting with the Professor's work which will last a couple of hours, then maybe groceries, then training with Alex? As I finish up my thought I turn off the shower and dry off. Maybe today's the day the Prof will finally let me try to improve the pokedex! Three years of trust and internship and ya think a guy will let you do things yourself. Maybe I should see if I could add channels to the pokedex to connect to the news or emergency numbers in case of getting stranded. Ah I'm overthinking this, he probably won't let me anyway. I mean what does he think I'll do? Fuse it with a rotom? I put on the clothes I set aside on top of the bathroom counter. I don my usual black tee and white hoodie, as well as my black jeans. As I walk down the steps to go the first floor, I can't help but have a sense of premonition. That something big is supposed to happen if I walk outside, kinda like a deja vu. Did someone tell me about something? Should I tell the Professor? Well, it's probably not much if I forgot.

"Hey Dante you ready to go?" I say as I put on my backpack next to the door. I hear a char call out in response and him fast walking to the door with a small plastic box. Which he offers to me. I open it to see a club sandwich in it.

"In case you get hungry, ya forgot to eat!" Alex shouts out from the other side of the house.

"How'd you know I got the box?"

"I made it and asked Dante to give it to you. Why?"

"Oh nothing." I internally groan, I hope he didn't add weird stuff in it like last time. That Tamato Berries and cucumbers mix did not agree with me.

I lock the door, stuff the plastic bin into my backpack, and begin to walk off our lawn with Dante in tow. We start walking along the pavement towards to professor's lab. Surprising as it was to see the famous Professor Oak get a whole other lab in Viridian, it's even more when he put a poster on the door hiring a lab intern three years ago. And here I am still working for him helping him manage Pokemon, files, and reports throughout both labs. I look around and notice no one is really out at this time. No cars on the road for miles. I don't even see any curtains or blinds open at the few houses on the road! Well this part of Viridian is pretty laidback and lazy anyway. After a couple of minutes of making our way to the professor's, we finally end up at his door.

"Hey Professor!" I yell as I knock on his door. Almost immediately, Prof. Oak unlocked the door and pulled me and Dante inside and slammed the door shut, locking it. Before I say anything I notice the professor's state. His hair is an even greater mess than it usually is, dark circles under his eyes, and his lab papers scattered everywhere.

"Zackary Chance and Dante," he says in a hushed but urgent voice, "Both of you need to leave immediately. Certain people are after me and you are in indirect danger. Take this bag and leave from the back entrance. I will take care of transferring the Pokemon and documents!"

"Wait what, what do you mean! Who is-" Oak puts a hand on my mouth to stop me from talking.

"Hush Chance! They could be in this very room and they are after vital information and most likely our lives! You need to leave, but don't stay in the open and don't stay still. Don't even go to your house until later, you will put your family in danger."

"No hold on wait." barely a minute of me in here and things are going insane. "Tell me exactly why we have to leave and who is after and why?"

"Later I can tell you more of it, but all I can say right now is that Team Plasma is after important research documents that I worked with Bill and those that might be vital to their own projects. And I do not want you or your family to get involved. Please don't worry about me I will handle it." Things aren't adding up. Team Plasma is supposed to be over in Unova.

"How did you know tha-"

"Zackary please, you're risking your family's safety." Dang it he does have a point.

"Fine I'll go, please stay safe professor." I turn to Dante, "I'm gonna have to recall you for now, you okay with that?" To which Dante nods his head. I whip out his pokeball from my belt and press the small center button, allowing a red beam of light absorb Dante into the machinery. I gotta ask Dante what's it like in there. WAIT, no time for random thoughts like that Zack. I look back at the professor who is already darting across the room grabbing poke balls and sending them into a PC in his Pallet Lab; As well as his digital documents. I begin rushing towards the back door to exit into the Professor's Viridian Pokemon reserve. I swing the door open and dash into the woods dodging startled Pokemon as I walk by them. Am I being too rash about this? Things went by too fast. But the Professor would never be this serious about this if this was a joke! I mean he was sending files back to his lab, which not only setbacks his development of this work, but it also requires bypassing his security measures to do that, which only he and I knows how to do. I bring my sprint to a stop. There's no possible way Oak can escape if Team Plasma is after him. I should help him. But what if we come when they are invading? What if he's already gone and we are the ones in trouble? Maybe I should leave some equipment in a nearby tree so I won't lose it. Dammit this too much, I'm over thinking crap again! I'll just stay in the shadows. I drop my backpack and messenger bag in a hollow of nearby tree and rip out a small chunk of weak bark from the tree. I hope I'll be able to identify the marking later. I begin racing back towards the lab, being careful not to trip over roots and uneven terrain. I slow down my run when I make it back to the backdoor of the building. No footprints in the dirt around the door, great no one followed me. I press my ears to the door's wooden surface, I can't hear a thing! The door isn't thick at all, I should be able to hear at least some noise from the machines always whirring. But Oak probably did disable them in case there was some virus this Team Plasma implanted. I crack open the door an inch to peek inside. Nothing, absolutely abandoned. No documents, no pokeballs, no Oak. Did he manage to hide and transfer all of them and escape? Was he captured? It doesn't look like there was a struggle. I open the door a little more and creep in. I search the room for any signs of intruders but it seems like there wasn't any yet. It's too quiet in here. Oak probably escaped by now and I can't make any risks of further searching. I gotta go. I turn around and begin to sneak back to the door, careful not to make any noise if someone is actually here. A slight draft from the door brushes behind my neck and my hair goes on end. As if trepidation is crawling on my back and weighing me down. I stop moving and listen. Something or someone is behind me, there is no denying. Another draft snakes across my back swiftly. I listen closely. Slight sounds of footsteps seem to be behind me. I turn around to see nothing. I need to go, I can't be caught. I resume making my way back to the door. I hear the footsteps again. I increase my movement but not enough to make a definable sound. The footsteps are still there. They are coming from behind, above and even in front of me. Someone knows I'm here. I quickly get up and sprint out the back door that I left open. So much for not getting caught, but what was that? I hear footsteps coming at me at a faster pace than I am going. Cold sweat begins to appear on my face, there is no denying, I'm caught. Unless I try to lose them. I refuse to go to the direction of my inventory so I make a sharp turn left, cutting through bushes and trees. A few twigs from the uncut path snag at my skin, as if the thing chasing me is tearing at my flesh, trying to grab me. My jeans catch thorns from bushes and slightly tear apart. I push myself to run over my own limit. My muscles already screaming for rest and my breathing increasing in rapidness. The thing's footsteps slow down. Please be over. I continue my sprint regardless. As I run between the trees, an uplifted root pulls me down back to the ground, slamming my face against the forest floor. I try listening around for my predator. Nothing. Not even the reserve's pokemon are making their usual sing song noises. I crawl into a nearby bush, making my breath non existent. Still nothing. I slow down my breath and calm down. It can only be a pokemon, it didn't seem that it was getting tired while we were running. It's like it's messing with me. I shift around in the hollow bush, moving my neck in a more comfortable position away from the branches supporting my cover. I begin to hear slow footsteps again. The snapping twigs and shifting leaves create noises every step. But then silence.

"Lord Ghetsis and Colress both require your presence." A hand reaches into the my bush and stabs a needle into my side. Cold numbness washes over my body. Darkness creeps around my vision and I lose consciousness.

-line break-

I feel sore. Sore and raw. Like a touch itself can hurt me. My eyelids heavy and tired, refusing to open. It hurts to even breathe. I hear muffled voices away from me. Either something is blocking their voices or my ears are messed up. I try to move which only results in struggles due to my hands and feet being bound on whatever I'm on. I open my eyes. I'm in a rather large unfamiliar laboratory. Bright pristine white walls and ceiling, but a gray floor. Strange 6 feet tall tubes filled with liquid are placed along the walls except around and entrance. Desks filled with certain notes and chemicals practically cram every inch of each surface, but all items are still organized. One scientist, back towards me, is hunched over his desk, enthralled in whatever he's doing. I look at what I am on. A large vertical table that is holding me in placed. The table is stained with not just red, but also a green. Pain spikes in my side where I was injected. I look over to my afflicted side and see a tube penetrating my right side and also connecting to a tube filled with a gray liquid is over on my right. Is it, putting that in me?! I hear the muffled mumbling again. It's coming from the scientist over at one of the desks. He glances to me and mumbles another phrase, noticing that I'm awake. In a very impatient manner, he jabs a button near him with his thumb. A machine whirs to the left of me and an identical tube appears, snaking toward my other side. It pauses for a second, making me hope that it'll stay there. As if. The tube suddenly thrusts itself into my left side, piercing my clothes, and injecting a fluid that causes me to pass out.

-line break-

"Do you think this one will survive this time?" A dulled voice appears to be across from me.

"It survived this long and it's even more stable than any other one." Another voice appears. Ugh, I'm obviously a guy, get it right.

"Well speak of the devil, he's still stirring." The first voice says. Crap, I didn't know I moved.

"He does appear to have a strong will… or not." Second voice says. The heck does that mean?

"He might proved vital for them," first voice says, "He might be conscious, inject him again." Crap _._ The same tube on my left side administers the same narcotic drug which makes me blackout again.

-line break-

I regain consciousness. But something's different, I'm still sore but less. And also I'm on something soft. I feel…grass? I'm outside? I open my eyes easily this time. Although it's night I can tell where I am. I'm outside! I'm just outside the backdoor of the Professor's lab. What the heck happened? Was that all fake?! I check both of my sides and notice the holes in my hoodie and large bandages covering both areas of my skin. Nope, it's all real. I exhale a puff of frustration. Why the heck me? Wait, what day is it? I should try calling someone. I reach into my pocket only to find it empty. Oh yeah, it's in my backpack. Why the heck did I do that? I groan. Stop feeling bad for yourself, just go get the things you put in that tree. I retrace the same path I went when I had the bags. I run for several minutes until I found the marked tree. At least something good is happening. I thought it would be stolen. I grab both bags and put them on. DANTE! I reach for his pokeball and grasp a familiar metal ball. I sigh relief, thank goodness. I summon Dante from his ball. The red light escapes from the ball and forms my charmander. Once he appears, he stretches a little, but oblivious to what happened. His tail illuminates the area around him.

"Char Char?" _Did he say 'what happened'?_ I hesitate a little, wondering if I should tell him. But he did see Oak warning us so he already is involved.

"Dante we might need to leave town." Dante gives me a confused look and replies with a char.

"After I left the lab, I was ambushed by, most likely, Team Plasma and they did," I shudder at what a happened, "...something... to me. They said certain things that made me believe that they will follow me. And the Professor said that Team Plasma will try to get me no matter what, which will endanger our family. So we shouldn't stay with them, especially mom. Do you agree?" Dante hesitates on his answer. Probably freaked out by the situation. My breathing becomes more rapid as panic settles. They definitely will hurt our family and the residents here. I need to leave _._ I try to steady my breath and hide my fright. I don't want to scare Dante anymore than now. Dante slowly and reluctantly nods, and most likely saddened by leaving our family behind.

"Lets at least try to tell them about this…" Dante nods again.

-line break-

We trek up to our doorway. Please, please let this go well. How do I even say this to them? I open the door with the spare keys I had in my backpack. Across the entryway, I see mom pacing back and forth in the living room. She glances up towards me. With tears in her eyes, she runs towards us and embraces me in a hug.

"I was worried sick about you! It's been over a day and you didn't return!" her breath becomes ragged and uneven. I'm sorry for this. If I just run without telling her I'm alive, she might think I died, I can't have her think that.

"Mom, get Alex and Koda, please." Tears started to well up in my eyes before I finished the sentence. Without question, she goes upstairs to get them. I walk over to the sofa and sit down. Dante trudges over to the floor next to me and collapses, seemingly trying to hold in his own emotions. Mom comes back down with Alex and Koda in tow, both with frightened look on their faces, wondering what happened.

Mom begins to speak with a slight shake in her throat, "Zackary, please tell us...what happened." I recite why I told Dante but in a more descriptive manner. I tell them about the Professor's situation, the messenger bag, the chase, the abduction, the lab, the words the scientists said, the drugging, everything. Dante gets even more shocked than before due to the new information. Alex and Koda both displaying shock on their faces. And mom silently crying until she burst into tears when I told her I need to leave.

"NO! Not you! I can't...please…" She collapses onto me, hugging me tightly. Koda looks down at the floor. Alex looks at me with strong determination.

"If you're going, then I'm going with you!" He shouts, pissed, "I'm not going to standby and let this Team Plasma use you, I'm going to teach them what for!" Koda puts a hand on his shoulder.

" _Rose, let's talk about this upstairs please."_ she says solemnly. Mom gets up, more composed than before and walks upstairs with Koda. I put a hand to my head. I can't believe I made her cry. I'm so sorry for this.

"Zack, before you say anything else, I'm definitely going with you." Alex says.

"No please, I can't endanger you! You're defeating the whole purpose of this decision!"

"No I'm not, the purpose of this is to protect mom. And besides, I'll need to protect you as well out there. If they're keeping tabs on you, then you need to be protected," He brings up a valid point. But no I can't let him get hurt!He continues, "Mom is more worried for you or me getting hurt than herself. She would be devastated to find out that your were taken again and or even killed. She can't handle another loss! Please, I'm not just choosing to join for your sake, but also for mom's." I bite my lip. He's right. He knows he's right. Even if I decline he's gonna come anyway _._ I look down to Dante for an answer. Dante nods his head in full agreement. I sigh.

"Okay then, but that means you can't get hurt as well! And mom has to agree to this!" Alex grins.

"You should be worrying more about yourself during this trip than me."

"Yeah true, I'm probably going to fall somewhere considering my luck." Alex becomes serious again.

"No seriously, whatever they put in you, well, it could be anything." The liquid they put in me… is it supposed to kill me? Am I going to die a horrific and slow death? Is it going to make me brain dead?!I shiver at the thought.

Mom and Koda both come down from upstairs and walk in front of me. Mom looking more composed than before and Koda has barely visible tear marks in her fur around her eyes.

"I talked it over with Koda and…" Mom pauses but then hesitantly continues, "We both agree with your decision...just please be safe. You are right that this Team Plasma may attack this area of Viridian, as well as the other people here…and-" I walk up to her and hug her. She immediately hugs back.

"I'm sorry for doing this too you, I'm sorry I'm getting you involved in this." I say between tears.

"No...no…you are making the wise decision. As much as it pains me to say this, you are right. They will attack the other people and not just me to get to you. It's selfish of me to keep you here." She quietly sobs.

Alex interjects, "Mom, I should be there to protect him." His words are all forced out, making it painful for him to say them, we can't bear to see her like this again. Mom released me from the hug and takes a deep breath.

"I suppose that is the right choice, too." I can tell she still is holding back anymore tears.

"Don't worry, we will always try to contact you, we won't be gone forever."

"I'm not worried about you leaving on a journey, I was perfectly fine with that. I'm worried about both of your lives now. Zack may have been injected with something deadly or dangerous and people might be tracking him! You both will be put into very dangerous situations…I can't bear you or Zack getting hurt," she pauses, "I don't want anyone to die, not again…"

Alex puts a hand on her shoulder, "I swear that I will protect the both of us," he gently smiles, "Not only will we both be safe, but we might be able to discover and possibly cure whatever is afflicting Zack." I look away. There might not be a cure, these people looked as if they had all the resources in the world, they probably didn't allow any cures or antibiotics to be able to affect...this, whatever this is.

"At least stay till next morning, it is night and I'll pack your bags, after you both eat, you should go to bed. You both will have a long day tomorrow." She smiles a little, at least she is feeling better.

I pull her into another hug, "I love you."

"I love you too, sweetie."

-line break-

I open my eyes, darkness and weightless. I feel nothing. Is this a dream? I try to look around and see nothing but black. But then a quick flash of light appears in front of me then disappears. In its wake is some sort of mist.

" _Zackary? Hello? Can you hear me?"_ a joyful and carefree sounding voice says, " _Is anyone in here?"_ It giggles.

" _Who's there!"_ I yell. The cloud of mist gains a hue of pink and forms into a small, yet feline like !

" _It's me silly!"_ Mew beams.

" _Wha-What! Why?"_ I say still shocked that Mew is in my dreams.

The Mew tilts its head, " _What do you mean why?"_

" _I mean why are you in my dreams! You're the legendary Mew!"_ This response only makes it laugh.

" _Haha someone's heard about me! But don't you remember? Didn't Darkrai tell you?"_

" _What?"_ What is Mew on about?

" _Didn't Darkrai warn you about you getting taken and etc etc.."_

" _WHAT WHAT DO YOU MEAN ETC!"_ This is the first time I've heard this! And I'm supposed to believe that Darkrai is helping me this time?

Mew laughs again, " _You mean_ _you forgot! Well basically what he told you is that something that's threatening humanity is gonna happen, or something like that. But I wouldn't say it like that. Just something big and bad will happen, that's all. Oh and that you'll be captured by a new group and tested on but that's all."_ I'm speechless. I can't believe I could have forgotten something like this. This would have been so easy to avoid. Frick me for being such a scatterbrained idiot. Wait, did it say a new group?

" _Um, did you say a new group? But Team Plasma's been around for a couple years or so; Who's this new group?"_ Mew considers this for a moment.

" _We still don't know, but it's not Team Plasma."_

" _B-but."_ I stop talking knowing it would be pointless to question further.

" _But Celebi did find another clue!" Mew says excitingly, "I think she said something about that substance put into you!"_ My heartbeat quickens, I better not forget this. _"She said that it may not kill you! You should survive, whatever it is!"_

I exhale, Thank Arceus, wait, did he say may?

" _What do you mean by may?"_

" _Like I said, we still don't know…"_ DANG IT ALL TO DISTORTION! I thought I would have to worry about that!

" _Wait so is that why you came into my dream? To tell about that?"_

" _Yes of cour-"_ Mew pauses and its eyes widen, " _You need to wake up, NOW!"_ Mew shouts.

" _What, what is it!_ " Mew's sudden mood change startles me.

" _They're in your house!"_ Before I can respond, A white light radiates in front of me, preventing me from opening my eyes. But as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone.

-line break-

I open my eyes and see the bottom of the top bunk again. Did that just happen? Oh well at least I remembered it this time. WAIT MEW'S WARNING! I jump out of bed, careful not to hit my head again, put on the two bags I have, and look at the top bunk. Alex is peacefully sleeping. I shake him a little. Which he only responds with a growl. I shake him again. He growls again. Agh, Alex! Why do you have to be so lazy in the mornings! I don't have time for this. I punch him right in the back, finally waking him up.

"Zack what the heck man!" He groggily yells at me. Oh geez how am I gonna tell him without sounding crazy _._

"I think there's people in here, get up so we can deal with them if there are."

"This better not be a joke!" Alex says as he reluctantly gets out of bed and grabs Hydro's pokeball off of the nightstand. I go over to Dante who drowsily gets up. Probably overheard us. He nods to me, showing me he understands the situation. At least someone knows I'm not joking. We and Alex begin to walk into the hallway but we halt when we hear a scratching sound from downstairs.

Alex begins to whisper, "Well I guess you're not lying…" We continue into the hallway and reach Mom's room. I open the door and see her and Koda safe and asleep. When I step in the room, Koda jerks up immediately from her sleep with aura sensors primed and ready in the air.

Her sensors fall back down when she notices me, " _Oh my bad Zack, you startled me."_ She can't sense an intruder?

"Koda wake Mom up and protect her there's someone in the house." I whisper. She gives me a quizzical look.

" _There's no one else in the house, if there was I would be sensing them right now."_

"I'm serious about this!" I say in a hushed voice, "I literally swear to Mew there is! It told me!" This only receives an even greater judging look from Koda.

" _How?"_ She says it more as an order than a question.

"It appeared in my dreams telling me about an intruder in this house." Koda shakes Mom a little bit as I leave the room. I motion to Alex and Dante to both go down the stairs with me, they follow. The scratching sound appears again, but now a more of a shuffling noise, as if people are walking around in the living room. We walk to down the stairs, the shuffling noise becoming more prominent. Alex readies Hydro's pokeball for a quicker release and Dante assumes a more battle-ready position. We all turn the corner, only to find the living room empty. The shuffling noise continues but stops immediately when we walk in the center of the room. I clear my throat as my muscles tighten. Alex releases Hydro and points at Dante, quietly motioning him to 'get ready.' I look around and the only thing out of place is that the backyard door is slightly ajar. I point to it directing everyone to it. We all walk in unison until I open the door. Across the backyard, a figure dressed in white and black, with his back facing us, stands holding a pokeball. Obviously a trap. He releases the pokemon from the ball, with his back still turned towards us, and the energy morphs into a Bisharp. Hydro and Alex go towards the challenging opponent. No one says a word. The battle doesn't even start. And his back doesn't turn.

A voice from behind appears from me and Dante, as if the voice is a creeping fog snaking across my shoulder, "We require that research." We both run into the field, and turn around to face another identical man garbed in black and white.

"Last time you lacked his research, but now the fruits are ripe for harvest." He brandishes a pokeball and releases another Bisharp. The man and Bisharp both walk over to the first enemy and his Bisharp. The other man turns around. A third identical man appears from nowhere next to them and unleashes his own Bisharp. I hear shuffling from the house again. I turn back and see both Mom and Koda at the door. Koda walks next to both Dante and Hydro. One of the opposers motions his hand the the three Bisharp nod.

The Bisharp begin running towards us with their claws obtaining a dark, shadowy glow. Without direction, Dante begins to spew his Smokescreen while Koda scrapes her spikes against each other emanating a loud and pain noise, Metal Sound. It seems like they already know what to due. I can already tell Dante's trying out another one of our combo moves, I guess he has it under control. The Bisharp flinch but then charge at them again.

"Alright Koda! They're weakened! Now Hydro, use Bubble as a shield for all of you!" On Alex's command, Hydro begins to spew out bubbles that move in front of the smoke which covers him, Koda and Dante. The Bisharp stop their second assault to avoid being hurt, "Now Water Gun!"

"Koda Aura Sphere!" Mom yells. Hydro shoots out a jet of water at two of the Bisharp and Koda fires a blue glowing ball of energy at the other one. They are blasted back to the trainers, although not knocked out, one is severely damaged. Now is the perfect time.

"Dante! Release it NOW!" Dante, who was charging a certain combo attack breathes a devastating breath attack that we have been working on for quite a while. The fire contacts all three Bisharp and knock them out immediately.

"WHAT THE HECK! Another combo!" Alex shouts in surprise.

I grin, "Dante proposed mixing Dragon Rage and Ember at our last training session to create what we call 'Dragon Fire.' And it works so that's something you have to watch out for if we battle." I look back at the enemies, they are unfazed and uncaring for the result of the battle.

"Sadly we can't take you when you have protection like that. We will wait." After saying this, all three of them disappear, leaving no trace at all.

"Well it's no use to call police now, is it?" Alex says.

* * *

 **As you can tell, the updates to the stories is sorta slow on this so don't hold your breath! I got other work to do. I'm also trying to figure out the other stories I have planned. And also I picked up my Pkmn White and I am redoing it for kicks.**

 **After Edit: How are ya feeling about the story? I do have a plan for it but it will be loosely edited. So kinda it's formed as I go. Tell me if there are any inconsistencies or mess ups in these chapters, I want to make something decent enough for people enjoy a little.**


	3. Chapter 3 What the Future will Hold

**Okay look, I did another annoying format change. Last chapters, his inner thoughts were in italics, but that's no more. His thoughts are in regular format. Italics with quotes are for pokespeak and for dreamspeak and Auraspeak. I will re edit all other Exposure chapters I've done to match this format.**

* * *

What's the point of me running away, to protect Mom and Koda? We all know that that won't actually work. Sure maybe in some cases it can protect her. But in all truth, Team Plasma can just barge into our house and take whatever or whoever they want. The three men that just disappeared almost took us. If Mew didn't warn me, I don't know what would have happened. Me running away will literally solve nothing.

I look over to Mom, who is still in the doorway, with a look of uncertainty on her face. We're probably thinking the same thing, what can we really do?

"Well this is more of a reason to leave isn't it?" Alex says, breaking the silence. I give him an incredulous look.

"What's the point? Team Plasma just proved that they have the ability to do anything to us! If I leave to protect you guys from them, can't they just kidnap Mom and take her as bait? They'll hurt her more if they do that!" I feel myself get angry at my own words, the possibility of them hurting Mom no matter what I do makes me seethe with anger. Alex stays silent. Koda speaks up.

" _Should we focus on getting a cure for you then?"_

"And what's the point of that? We don't even know what it is? And I don't think we're giving Team Plasma much credit. If they created that serum, they'll know if there's a cure or not. I bet they also knew that I know Oak and Bill. If there was a cure, then why give it to me, a guy who can easily find another cure with the help of scientists? Wouldn't they give the serum to a person without access to such help? They planned this! I know they did! And if they didn't then they are right now! Making countermeasures and crap, they might have the next few years already planned out!" I'm practically shouting at this point. I feel a strong spike of pain in my head.

" _No, there has to be a way to avoid them. They can't be that thorough."_

"I shouldn't be the one saying this but we have to face reality. I was being rash and stupid for bringing up the idea that I can protect you guys, I guess it was all just in the moment. And of course these guys are thorough. That whole fiasco in Unova was their doing, and they froze half the continent! I bet that they carefully planned this years ago!" I can't stop myself from continuing to yell my words.

Alex speaks up again, "Well let's wait a day and try to contact Oak or Bill, I'm sure they can help us."

"It useless!" Why am I yelling still? "Can't you see how pointless it is to do that! Isn't it suspicious that Oak, with all of his lab supplies, disappeared in the matter of seconds!" The headache grows stronger, Why am I still angry? "I went to Oak and half of his lab was empty, then when I ran and came back, it was all gone! He was probably in on this!" What? I believe that!

"Whoa Zack, calm down man, Oak would never betray you." I know I should be calm, I want to be calm, why am I still feeling angry? I try to hold in any other shouts I might say. My headache disappears

I take a deep breath. "Yes, I know, I don't know what came over me." Or why I felt so angry.

" _I understand why you might have been upset. This is truly frightening."_ Koda continues to give me a concerned stare. As well as everyone else.

"Yeah, I need to stop worrying," I say, "I just want to go back to sleep." I trudged my way over to the house, pass Mom and walk up the stairs and into my room. Then I just throw myself under the bunk. The heck was I thinking? I shouldn't have felt that angry. Whatever, I guess it doesn't matter to worry about that.

Minutes pass as I just blankly gaze into the wall. I don't even want to continue thinking about what'll happen. I hear someone open the door, and see Koda in the entryway.

"Yeah Koda what is it?"

" _I don't know how to say this or if I should say this to you, but I felt two emotions coming from you. One that is very confused and calm, and the other was just pure hatred. Can you tell me what you were thinking?"_

"I don't know Koda, I don't know why I was acting like that. I'm sorry that I starting yelling like that, I know I shouldn't. But I guess there's no reason to worry about it anymore." Koda still has that worried look.

" _No Zack, we should worry about this. I saw two contesting auras in you, a yellow one, the aura that I sensed yourself in, the one that represented your true emotion and I saw another one, one that was red, ignited with spite and anger. The rule of auras is that a being can only have one aura, one aura for their emotions, their personality, and their mind. But you Zack, for that brief moment, had two different auras. Do you realize what I'm saying?"_ I can't respond. " _That wasn't you yelling there."_

-line break-

Hours pass of me burrowing deeper in my blankets in my bed. Koda already left to make breakfast for the others long before, and she already brought my serving in my room, on top of the desk, just waiting to be eaten. But I can't eat. I couldn't eat. Not after that bombshell Koda dropped on me. I can't make heads or tails for what this means. I know she was trying to help me understand what is happening or what could happen, but I feel that I'm even more confused and lost at the situation. Am I going crazy or was I possessed, the heck did that second aura thing mean? It's already lunchtime and I still haven't eaten yet. I feel that sharp headache again, maybe it's because I'm hungry.

I get up from my pile of blankets and walk over to the pancakes Koda made. I feel kind of sorry for letting it get cold. The headache pain resonates, I got to eat, or get an Aspirin or something. While I eat the now cold breakfast, the headache continues to get stronger despite me eating. I guess I need an Aspirin. I still eat, ignoring the pain, but the headache gets too strong that me hand tenses up and I drop my fork. This is no ordinary headache. I hold my forehead, trying to ease the ache. I stifle my groans of pain as it intensifies. The room then feels as if it's heating up, like the room suddenly became a oven. The pain increases in increments, like someone is striking a nail into my head. The heat of the room gets hotter and hotter, my clothes becoming practically unbearable to wear. The pain becomes more and more excruciating. I feel someone grab my shoulder. I turn and see that it's only Koda again. I instantly feel the headache and heat disappear.

" _Are you alright Zack? I felt a strong sense of pain."_

"Yeah I'm good I guess, it was probably nothing." I don't want her to worry about me even more. Koda looks at me concern but leaves anyway.

" _Well if there is anything you want me to give you just ask,"_ she says as she leaves.

After she closes the door, I feel strangely tired. I put myself back into bed, falling into a slumber immediately when my head touches the pillow.

-line break-

I feel that strange weightless sensation again. I open my eyes and see, unlike when I met Mew in my dream, pitch black nothingness. But then it gets hotter. The same feeling I had just seconds ago while I was eating. The darkness around me ignites in flames, slowly encompassing me, while i'm stuck remaining still. It gets even more torrid. The fire grows and gets brighter. Then two pieces of flame separate and mold together into some form. The form is then shaped into a familiar shape, a pokémon that I saw somewhere in Oak's pokedex, a quilava. The quilava's fire on the head and back spike up, and the fire around me intensifies. I'm stuck immobile and I can't speak. I can barely even open my mouth. The fire quilava then charges at me, the flames it's made up of grows brighter and brighter. Then the quilava rams into me head first. At first I feel nothing, but then extreme pain on my lower back and left arm. The fire around me snakes onto those places, burning and searing them. I'm still unable to even scream. My lower back explodes into flames, erupting like a quilava's. The skin on my back is melted and burnt of. My arm then also feels as if it's exploding, except unlike by back, my skin tears away and colored fur replaces it. The pain is unbearable yet I still can't scream yet. Boiling, searing, blistering, scorching my skin. I'm stuck in a burning agony that I can't even further express. The fire dancing on my arm and the fire coming from my back then strengthen again in intensity. The pain increases tenfold, even more than the hellfire it just was. I am then able to scream.

-line break-

I wake up screaming as I did in my dream, feeling the phantom pain from that nightmare. Realizing that the pain is then gone, I stop and relax, barely.

Alex, Dante, Mom, Koda, and even Hydro rush into the room and look at me. Mom switches on the light.

"Are you alright in here!" Mom says, frightened from my sudden outburst. Alex just stares at me, with an even more frightened look on his face, eyes directed at my arm. Mom, Koda, Dante, and Hydro all dart their eyes to me, they make the same face Alex has. All eyes aiming at my arm.

"I'm sorry for that, I just had a bad dream again." I clamber out of bed but everyone still has a frightened look on their face. "What is it?" Alex points to my left arm and I take a look. Like my dream, my arm is replaced with the cream fur of a quilava.

All I at first can muster is to mutter a swear. I turn and rotate my arm in multiple directions. I touch every inch of my arm as well, feeling the short fur on it. The strange sensation of being touched on the fur, makes it stand on end. The serum, their serum made this happen. The realization makes me irritated. Team Plasma infected me with some experimental serum to change my body however they wanted it. Am I even to be considered human anymore? I feel myself get even more angry.

"What the hell!" I shout, feeling the same anger I did this morning. As I yell, I feel heat from my lower back. As the heat disappears, I turn around to see that the lower part of my shirt is burnt off and a little part of the bunk's side is charred. Through the hole of my shirt, I see slightly bright red dots where the fire recently came out, as well as some teal fur spread around the dots. The back of a quilava, the same as in my dream. As the dots dim, I move my normal hand to touch them, feeling unusually sensitive and cooler than I expected. I look back to my changed arm. I move the three digits on my hand, only to find out their slight immobility. Each digit has small claws at the end of them, but not enough to do real damage. The paw pad on my hand is still pink and soft, not fully developed. The blunt of the situation sinks in deeper. Team Plasma's serum took my humanity away. They did this to me. They know this happened. They're going to come after me. Everyone is in danger. All my anger disappears and I look at our room's window, it's wide open. Feeling in my gut rises, I feel adrenaline start coursing through me and I feel this primal fear swell up inside me. I turn around to Mom and Koda and see their faces just as confused as I am at the new transformation. But I don't care about that, what I do care about is the strange dark cloud forming behind them. A hand donned in a black uniform launches from the cloud and grabs Mom's and Koda's throats. But they don't react. The fear rises in me, telling me to escape from the monster strangling them. I turn to the window again and I start to run after it but Alex tackles and pins me to the ground.

"Where the heck are you going?" He asks, practically yelling at me.

"Team Plasma knows that this just happened, they're coming after us! Alex let me go! They already got Mom and Koda! THEY ARE GOING TO KILL US!" I try to reason. I need to run, I need to escape. This feeling in my gut is telling me run away from all of this and I'll be safe. This feeling is telling me that Mom, Koda, and Alex are already dead, I need to save myself. I need to survive. I can't save them.

"Weren't you the one who just said that it's useless to run?" Alex's voice takes me from my thoughts.

"Yeah but-"

"No, you know that running away now without any real goals won't solve any problems, you said so yourself!" I give up struggling, accepting that truth. The feeling in my gut leaves and the dark cloud disappears. Alex slowly get off of me and just sits on the floor. We all stay still and silent.

Minutes pass and I can barely focus on the situation again, neither can anyone else. I can't even think of anyway to even start to focus on the situation. I see everyone's scared and confused faces, all of them trying to think of a response in anyway they can. I can't take it, their unease makes it difficult to breathe, I don't want to see them scared.

"I need a breather," I say as my voice shakes.

As I walk out the door Alex speaks up, "Please don't try to run away from this." I only give a nod in response. I walk down the stairs and go to the backyard patio. Keeping my promise, I just sit on the patio stairs, breathing in the air trying to relax myself. A few seconds later, Dante walks up next to me. Not trying to say anything, he simply sits next to me. I feel myself stuck in a limbo of me being scared of what this transformation means, and me giving up and not caring. I don't even have it in me to even cry, or yell, or rant about it. I just solemnly look up at the midday sky. Dante places a paw on my back, trying to reassure me. But he touches the quilava part, its sensitivity accidentally reminding me of it.

"I'm sorry for that Dante, I just don't know what else to do. I can't help but realize again that i'm endangering Mom by being here and if try to lead Team Plasma elsewhere, they'll still go after Mom." Dante can't respond back, knowing that I won't fully be able to understand what he is saying. I turn and lean on the patio railing, Dante then moving to lay down on my lap. I drift off to sleep again.

-line break-

I open my eyes, relieved that I see myself floating in the pink mist instead of that painful darkness. Mew then appears from the mist as it did before. A look of unusual grief plastered on its face.

" _We never expected that to happen to you. Even Celebi couldn't find out until it happened. I'm sorry about this."_ I just sigh.

" _For some reason I'm not even angry about this anymore, I guess it could have been worse. There are more thing to worry about right?"_ I know I'm lying to myself, I can't help but worry about what this change means.

" _Right but like I said, we can't find out what is happening,"_ reminds Mew.

" _You said something about another team capturing me, do you have any leads on that?"_ Mew shakes its head. I look down into the pink mist below me. Not being able to think of anything to say or ask.

" _I know you're still confused on the transformation, you can't hide it,"_ Mew says, breaking the silence.

" _Well you caught me, I just can't figure out what this means will happen. Koda said something about two auras, what does that mean?_ " Mew looks away looking nervous.

" _I….don't know_." I think it's lying.

I look at my new arm, I'm begin wondering about it again.

" _Does this mean I'm losing my humanity? I know i'm becoming a quilava, but how far will this go? Am I going to think differently once the transformation is over, losing myself and becoming a different person entirely? Would I think like some newborn quilava, having all my memories erased?_ " Mew becomes fidgety, looking in a kind of directions and squirming in the air.

" _I guessing you don't know either._ " Mew doesn't respond. I'm stuck waiting for an answer for what seems like an hour.

" _I...can't answer that,"_ it says, _"Look Zack, we don't have enough information to give a real answer, and… well...just..just wake up, I'm not allowed to say anything."_ Mew becomes a flash of bright light before I try to ask it anymore questions.

I find myself waking up on the patio, my head facing up at an evening sky and I feel Dante still sleeping on me. I give another sigh. Why am I feeling so complacent about all this? Where's all of that anger and emotion I just had? I shouldn't be so accepting with this change, yet here I am, doing absolutely nothing about it. Looking into the sky like some sort of philosopher. I look into the forest opposite of the patio. Some rattata scurrying around the floor and several pidgey flying about the tree canopy. Am I going to be like that? Becoming a pokemon and becoming wild with no memory of my human life? I continue to gaze into the forest. The sunset imminent as it grazes just above the trees. I feel myself wanting to run into the forest, run through the wilderness and leaves. Not only running away from Plasma and these new ridiculous problems, but also to just actually experience a new life. I want to run away and pass pokemon and the rare camper, to feel the energy and vigor to be free, to run and live a new life. I can hunt and live the rest of my days free of problems. The offer seems tempting to me and I feel a strong craving to eat. If I leave, I wouldn't have to worry about Team Plasma, I wouldn't have to worry about Alex, Mom, koda, Hydro, Dante….

I feel a claw tugging my pants and I realize myself on the edge of the yard on our path that leads into Viridian Forest. I notice Dante pulling on my leg and shouting his forms of protest at my unconscious actions. What the heck? When did I get up?

"I'm sorry Dante, I…didn't realize what I was doing." Dante stops pulling me and worryingly looks at me. His eyes trying to decipher what I was even thinking about. What was that strange feeling? Was that the second personality that Koda was talking about, influencing me into thinking that? Whatever it was, I need to control myself from allowing it to take control again. The patio door opens and Alex appears and sees me near the edge of the forest. Alex runs towards me, most likely thinking that I'm about to leave.

Before Alex reaches me, I call out, "Wait Alex I'm not trying to leave." Which stops Alex in his tracks.

"Oh okay then, just be sure not to, I don't want you to abandon us."

"You know I don't want to. Why did you come out here again?"

"Dinner is ready." Alex goes back to the house, motioning me and Dante to follow. We of course follow him.

In the house, Mom and Koda have already set the table and Hydro is, sitting in his chair. Mom's eyes are slightly puffy around the edges, as if she has been crying for who knows how long. We were probably thinking the same thing again, will I lose myself? I sit down at the table and so does Dante, everyone else places the food on the table and sits down. No one starts eating.

"Well at least I can still use my right arm or I'll be having trouble eating," I try to say to lighten the mood. Of course it doesn't. I can't even make myself smile while I was saying it. I begin eating and everyone starts eating after me. Even though I am hungry, I begin slowing down eating and just pick at my food. This whole transforming situation I think makes me lose my appetite. Wait, no that's not it. I still feel hungry and I was craving to eat something while I was just outside.

I look out the dining room window and into the forest again, feeling the craving for food rise up again. I look down at my food and the craving goes away. Koda sees me doing this.

" _Is there something wrong with the food Zack?"_

I don't respond. Instead I just stare back out into the forest, feeling the same craving appear again for another time. What am I craving? Something in that forest, I need whatever it is. I was thinking about hunting when I feeling that craving. Do I want to hunt for myself, am I already reverting to a wild pokemon? The idea of eating red and purely rare meat entices me.

"You're not thinking of running away again, are you?" Alex asks with a hint of sadness and in his voice. His question snaps me back into reality. And the craving quickly fades away.

"Huh, oh uh no, of course not," I say starting to continue eating my food.

We all continue eating in silence. We don't know how to handle this situation. I can't even comprehend the situation. Is that why I'm not doing anything about it right now? Am I not really accepting the change, am I just stuck in a strange version of denial? I laugh to myself a little. We're having dinner like nothing happened, we're all stuck in denial. I get up from my seat and leave my plate half empty.

"I'm not longer hungry, goodnight," I prematurely end my dinner and walk up the stairs to my and Alex's room. Before I enter the room I hear faint crying from downstairs. I close the door and collapse on my bed as I do every night. I can't even force myself to sleep, so I just go on my phone to pass the time. Playing a couple apps on my phone, I get bored of that after a while.

I internally groan, I feel restless. I have to do something about this, but what can I do? I'm at the mercy of Team Plasma at this point. One of my arms are now useless and I'm a walking, living furnace. I don't even know how or when this thing on my back will blow up again. I look at my furred arm.

"This is messed up," I mutter to myself. Is that all I have to say, messed up? Like this whole ordeal is just a strange inconvenience? I laugh to myself. This isn't messed up. This is fucked up. This situation is fucked up because I'm not doing anything about it. I don't care about what I said on how useless it is to do anything, now it seems like doing something is what I have to do. I am now thrown into a hole I can't climb myself out of. I got to face it head on, and that means facing Team Plasma. I guess I now have a better reason to leave, to find a cure and stop Team Plasma from doing whatever they want with me.

"Man am I a hypocrite or what," I say to myself again.

"Yes you are," I hear Alex's voice from the doorway. He continues, "What are thinking, right now I mean, about all of this?"

"You know what I'm thinking, I take back what I said about not leaving, maybe we can actually do something about all this. And this is not just about finding a cure, Team Plasma has to be planning something big, and since I'm literally stuck in this situation I might as well do something about it."

Alex smiles a little, "Man, you really are a hypocrite," he sighs, "And I'm sorry about forcing you to stay, I just didn't want to let you make any rash choices, I don't think it would have been safe if you were alone."

"Actually thank you for that, I don't know what would have happened if I was let to be alone out there. I just don't know what came over me when I…transformed. I just suddenly felt so scared of something, I don't know even how to explain it. I just felt like I needed to escape, I didn't know what to escape from but all I knew was that I just had to escape. Jeez I was acting like some scared rattata having a dumb fight or flight response or whatever."

"Hey you said it not me!" Alex says, making me laugh a little, "Well I guess back to Plan A, you wanna go to the Pallet to see the Professor about a cure?" I nod in agreement.

"Thanks for helping me with this," I say to him.

"No prob man, like I said, who knows what you'll do alone. Besides we are brothers, we gotta help each other am I right?"

I look back to my new arm. "Hey Alex, what do you think about this?"

"About what?"

"The fact I'm becoming a pokémon, a quilava on top of that. I can barely making heads or tails on the situation myself." For a couple of minutes, Alex doesn't answer. I only look at my arm in his silence.

"I think… maybe…this shouldn't be a bad thing, ya know?" I turn to him in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I know that you have been thinking about this and that maybe you thought about the bad things this will bring. And we both know that there is a chance of you… losing yourself, but what if that doesn't happen. Like what if you'll still be you but just in a quilava's body? Who knows maybe that will be fun? Like… uh… well you know what I'm saying," he says.

"I guess you're right but what if-"

Alex cuts me off, "Nah man, you're gonna bum yourself out if you continue thinking of that, it's not healthy. Just focus on the positive."

"Well what's positive?" Alex is silent again for a while.

"Oh Dante and Hydro seem to think that battles are fun! Maybe they'll be fun for you more than it is then to be the trainer!"

"I guess but what if there's a catch?"

"How about this? For now on, think that there is no catch, there will be no drawbacks and even if there will somehow will be, we are gonna find a cure so it will all be good in the end. Just try to enjoy what this can bring for now, 'Kay?"

"Okay, I guess you're right. Can you tell Mom and Koda about our plans again? I'm feeling too tired to face them."

"Sure man." With saying that, Alex leaves the room.

I look at my arm again. Even though Alex is right, I still can't help but think that something bad will happen. I yawn. Jeez I really do feel tired. I fall asleep again, despite me sleeping all day.

-line break-

Surprisingly, I wake up back in my bed and not in another dream. I hear Alex snoring from above and I check my phone clock, 6:12 am. Too early to even be up for a summer's day. I put on my glasses and I look over to the other side of the room and I see Dante curled up in his bed, his tail illuminating the room a little.

I walk down to the kitchen and something catches my attention. An open bag of Dante's favorite pokefood on the counter. Maybe he had some with his dinner? Before I even think twice, I grab a pellet and eat itt. The flavor compared to last time is more prominent. Like a little flavor burst of steak in the pellet, way better than the last time I tasted it. I stop myself from reaching to eat more. I'm going to get addicted to this if I continue eating it. Why does it taste better? I guess it has something to do with the transformation then. I close the bag and put it back where we usually keep it. I hear my stomach rumble since it was just tempted by that poke pellet. I might as well make food.

Grabbing the ingredients, turning on the stove and putting a pan on it, I start making some scrambled eggs. Only to realize how difficult it is with only one arm. Even though I'm right handed, it's still tough to open the dang egg. But I manage open the egg and let the insides pour out without letting the shell fall as well. This would be so much quicker with both arms.

I create the mixture as I usually do, except struggling now that one of my arms is now useless. Pouring and stirring the eggs on the pan, I zone out a bit. Just staring at the eggs as I'm making it. I glance at my quilava arm again, seeing it barely being able to hold the pan still. Paws are going to be a problem.

I hear steps from the stairs to see Dante and Hydro awake and sniffing the air. Clearly here for the eggs of course. I guess Dante opened Hydro's pokeball to let him in on eating the food.

"Here guys, I made enough eggs for all of us, I knew you were gonna wake up for this." They both eagerly run to their seats where I give them their portions of eggs which they immediately scarf down. I eat a little of my eggs until I look at them. They are already done with their breakfast.

"Are you guys wide awake?" They both nod.

"Do you wanna train?" They both nod again. I think they want to distract themselves from the situation more than I do. They both run out to the backyard while I catch up.

"Okay guys what do you want to do?" They both shrug. "Okay well how about this, I heard that sometimes, if a fire attack is strong enough, that it can completely nullify or even overpower a water attack." Dante looks at me shocked and with a slight hint of dread on his face.

"That's right Dante. It's time for a difficult session. Last time I left you off from anything challenging." Dante flops down on the ground.

"No, No Dante you didn't think that you were getting away from training that easily, Hydro it's time." Hydro nods and shoots Dante with a Water Gun. Dante gets up and dodges it before it hits.

"C'mon man you gotta do this, your fire attacks need to be strong!"

Hydro shoots Dante again and Dante tries to counter attack with an Ember of his own. When both hit, they explode into steam like the last time Dante and Hydro fought each other. Hydro continues shooting blasts of water and Dante matching up with his Embers. None of them penetrating through each other. But seeing them attack each other gives myself a strange energy and begins to get me excited.

"Okay Dante, try to focus on the next one more on concentrating the fire like you did with Dragon Rage." Dante agrees and when Hydro shoots another Water Gun, Dante released and thinner yet brighter version of Ember which actually pierced through Hydro's attack and hit Hydro in the face. But Hydro's water still blasted Dante as well.

"Dante and Hydro, you two alright?" I say, almost rushing to Dante to check if he was okay. They both give a thumbs up. But Dante is completely exhausted already. But unlike him, that strange new energy is getting me hyped up to battle myself.

"Well congratulations Dante, you managed to pull that one off! But I don't think we should really use that type of move. I mean despite all the attacks you previously did, it seemed that that thin Ember made you even more tired." Dante just shrugs between pants.

"Well are you up for more? If so, how about you attack me!" Dante gives me a look shaking his head and some 'chars' in protest.

"Nah I won't get hurt, I am becoming a quilava, my fur should be resistant to fire. I want to get used to this arm anyway." Of course that's not the real reason, this strange adrenaline is telling me to fight and I can't keep that adrenaline pent up any longer. Dante gets ready to fire an Ember, while looking at me with concern. I brace myself, putting my left arm up in defense. Dante releases the Ember at my arm and the small fireball hits my arm. And yet, I barely felt anything. Just a brief moment of heat and then nothing, the fire just dispersed upon contact. But getting hit by an attack like that had the small rush I've been having suddenly surge in intensity, like an extreme rush of excitement that won't let me stay still. I've never felt like this before, this feeling is beyond a sugar rush or any regular adrenaline.

"Hey, hit me again!" I say with more excitement than I wanted to. And Dante obliges, less reluctant due to it not hurting me. And I block it with my left arm, feeling that rush spike up again. Dante continues shooting bursts of fire and I keep blocking it. The feeling of adrenaline doesn't go down and I can't help but want more. I can barely focus on anything else except for blocking Dante's Embers.

Wait what am I doing? I stop moving for a second and snap out of my strange adrenaline daze. I try to recollect my thoughts but an Ember was coming straight for me. The fire shoots me in the chest before I have a chance to block it. I feel searing pain on my chest and I instantly lose the air in my lungs from the heat and the impact. I feel myself launch into the air and hit the ground. I hear frightened 'chars' and 'squirs,' but just barely. The impact left me gasping for air while setting a spot on my shirt on fire. The fire diminishes quickly but I'm still reeling from the blow. Despite still gasping for air, I feel the adrenaline grow, telling me to fight back and live.

I just need to breath for a while, my life isn't on the line. But why do I feel like it is? I don't really want to fight back.

Despite my feelings, my body gets up on its own, and I feel the fire on my lower back ignite and erupt as it did in the bedroom, except this time the fire stays lit. My body turns to Dante who is running to help me. But all my body is telling me is to attack him. I try to stop myself but my body launches at him on its own. I can't even control my own actions. I see myself pinning Dante down and see him cry out in pain as my body puts more force on his shoulder. I see myself raise my left paw, claws now elongated and primed for an attack until a blast of water launches me off of Dante. The water feeling even more painful than Dante's Ember especially since it hit my back flame. I see Hydro run front of Dante to protect him. But all I see is red. My body is wanting to hurt both of them for hurting me. This must be the second personality Koda was talking about again, it's controlling my body. I try to stop my movements again, the personality makes my body charge at Hydro this time. But before I reach Hydro, I see Alex move in front of him and brace himself. I attempt to stop my body again but I can't, I don't have control of my own body anymore. I ram into Alex. I see my claw raised up again like it was with Dante and I see it slam into Alex's face, Alex doing nothing to retaliate, the other personality's onslaught continues. It manages to slash Alex two more times on his body and face until Hydro slams into me.

I turn to Hydro after being moved and see a gush of water flying straight at me. The blast hits me in the face and I lose all of that adrenaline I had. I collapse and the last thing I see is Alex struggling to get up, with blood coming from several cuts and Dante trying to help him.

* * *

 **How long did this take to make? Over three months? ….um…..**

 **Well anyway, sorry about delays. Out of everything happening I've been running out of time to make these. I know I can't complain due to many other creators, being in even worse situations than I, making better stories. I'm supposed to be juggling my time but so far I've been fumbling with it. Just forgive me for the in between waiting, summer times are when I make these faster. Also forgive the editing mistakes in all the other previous chapters, they'll be dealt with later.**

 **The current format will stay specifically for this story, I realized if I apply the same format for all stories, it wouldn't be how I wanted it.**

 **Please tell me if things in the chapter happened too fast, I want to let this story last so tell me if it's paced good or not.**


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